Hartsville, S.C. ­ Joseph Flaherty, assistant professor of biology at Coker College, has received a $60,000 grant to conduct research in molecular biology from the South Carolina Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

The grant will support Flaherty’s work with Purdue University senior scientists Larry Dunkle and Jin-Rong Xu on the “Isolation and Characterization of Regulatory Genes Involved in Light-Responsive Fungal Development.” The fields of genetics, molecular biology and genomics, which are all part of the funded project, are core areas of modern life science research.

“I’m very excited to receive this support,” said Flaherty, who earned his Ph.D. from Purdue. “This and institutional support from Coker College will greatly enhance our research program and provide our students with exceptional opportunities.”

Under the direction of Flaherty, Coker College students Ashley Zearfoss of Chesterfield and Ashley Kelly of Darlington are already conducting independent research projects this summer. They plan to travel to Purdue to continue their work in the near future.

EPSCoR fulfills the National Science Foundation's (NSF) mandate to promote scientific progress nationwide. The collaborative research project is designed to provide college and university faculty with seed money for preliminary investigations in scientific areas typically funded by the NSF.

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